The Pitfalls of Budding Relationships
by WaiiKitsune
Summary: 'You know, if you have the mental capacity to warn me of your incoming falls, I presume you also have the mental capacity to drop and roll.' Soulmate Uni!AU; check in-fic notes. For Lightning515.


**Title:** The Pitfalls of Budding Relationships

 **Summary:** _'You know, if you have the mental capacity to warn me of your incoming falls, I presume you also have the mental capacity to drop and roll.'_

 **Disclaimer:** Katekyo Hitman Reborn! belongs to Akira Amano

 **Pairing:** R27, Implied Reborn/caffeine

 **Warning:** Minor language warning (Reborn has a bit of a potty mouth) and OoC-ness (blame it on the AU…?)

 **Note:** University+Soulmate!AU. Soulmate AU involves soulmate telepathy (soulmates can communicate through their minds) + mirror injuries (one of them gets injured and the other feels the pain, but the injures don't show physically)

 _ **For Lightning515.**_

* * *

 **The Pitfalls of Budding Relationships**

* * *

' _Incoming.'_

' _Fuck―'_

It took Reborn everything to stop the expletive from leaving his lips verbally, but he consciously let it slip mentally. His body tensed as the pain washed over him, targeting mostly his knees and arms. Reborn gritted his teeth and tightened the hold on his pen considerably as he waited the pain out.

' _Stop falling down stairs.'_ He hissed in his mind. _'What are you, three?'_

' _Sorry I have three left feet.'_ The snarky reply came. _'Besides, I warned you like, two seconds before.'_

' _If you have the mental capacity to warn me of your incoming falls, please spare me the warning and use that same mental capacity to drop and roll.'_ Reborn snapped.

' _Someone's prickly today…'_ The mental voice somehow sounded soft, much like how one's voice would sound when mumbling, but Reborn heard him nevertheless.

'Someone _,'_ He gritted. _'Is currently in the middle of their midterms, thank you very much.'_

'… _Oh.'_ A pause. _'I'm sorry.'_

Reborn took in a deep breath, then breathed out slowly and evenly. _'It's fine. Are you alright?'_

' _Yep. G-Good luck on midterms! I'll stop distracting you now.'_

With that declaration, the voice in Reborn's head retreated to the very back of his mind—the place where it stayed whenever there wasn't a conscientious effort/need to communicate—and Reborn let out another sigh, rolling his still aching shoulders before diving back into his midterms.

* * *

In this world, soulmates were not a thing of fairytales.

In this world, soulmates were not indicated with a convenient tattoo of names or words, but rather, through means of telepathy, along with mirrored sensation of pains. The _'symptoms'_ do not occur naturally at a certain age, and instead only manifests when one first encounters their soulmate in close proximity. It was entirely possible for someone to pass by their soulmates on the streets, or even have their soulmate in the adjacent aisle of a supermarket.

(This led to either moments of hilarity, or eternal frustration when soulmates inevitably try to figure out where they first met.)

Reborn didn't know _where_ he'd actually passed by his soulmate.

He wasn't even aware that he had _passed_ his soulmate, until one day, while he was sitting in class, only half-listening as the professor droned on, when he was assaulted by a _wave_ of pain that spread from his chest level all the way down to his knees. It was, by sheer determination, that Reborn bit down the cry of pain bubbling in his throat, and instead, snapped the pen in his hand.

And, since he was absolutely sure nothing he did would have resulted in such sudden pains, Reborn snarled mentally in an attempt to demand his soulmate explain what the hell just happened. A small voice squeaked out an apology almost immediately, and marked the first time Reborn communicated with his soulmate telepathically.

That had been approximately four months ago, and Reborn wondered, not for the first time, what his soulmate was like in person.

* * *

"Are you alright, Reborn?" Fon asked as they packed up after the midterm papers had been collected. "I noticed you were very close to losing your tenth pen so far."

Reborn shot his friend a pointed look before he answered, "He fell down the stairs. Again."

"He really is quite the clumsy little one, isn't he?" Fon chuckled. "It has been four months since you found him, has it not? Any luck on finding him?"

"He is extremely, and unbelievably clumsy." Reborn stated. "That's all I know. Sadly, even his incredible level of clumsiness isn't sufficiently distinctive enough to be called a _'characteristic'_."

"You two are certainly an interesting pair." Fon shook his head, smiling exasperatedly. "Most are rather eager to find out who their soulmates are immediately, yet you two had made it into a little game. Rather than outright finding out each other's identities, you chose to withhold almost everything about yourselves and challenged each other to find the other."

"Why not?" Reborn replied simply, a smirk tugging at his lips. "At the very least, we know that both of us attend the same university, and we agreed that if one of us is graduating but neither of us has found the other, we'll reveal our names and meet up then." He grinned. "It makes things interesting."

Reborn has been the one to propose the deal.

By not finding out who the other was immediately, it gave both of them a chance to learn more about the other unbiasedly, as well as gave them time to get used to having a soulmate. Apart from confirming that they both attended Vongola U, they had not shared any other personal details, like their names, major, year of study, etc. They regularly chatted via telepathy of course, learning bits and pieces about the other that way.

(So far, Reborn had found out that his soulmate was working customer services on campus somewhere and, once he'd gotten over his initial shock and meekness, his soulmate was surprisingly quick-witted and snarky, much to Reborn's delight.)

"Enough about my mysterious soulmate." Reborn said firmly. "I have a three hour class later, and I am in dire need of caffeine."

"I sincerely hope you find your soulmate before you expire of caffeine overdose, my friend."

* * *

"Welcome to Deathbucks, may I take your order?"

"Single espresso and one Oolong tea." Reborn answered smoothly, smiling charmingly at the cashier on duty. "…On second thought, make that a double-shot. Oh, and a tuna sandwich please."

The brunette cashier smiled politely at Reborn and rung him up, never once squealing or attempting to flirt with him (unlike a good portion of the female population on campus). Feeling both delighted and generous, Reborn dropped some change into the tips box as he waited for his orders. It only took a few minutes, and Reborn turning away from the counter to walk back to the table where Fon was waiting, only smack into someone behind him.

Reborn cursed as the tray went flying in the air, and the Oolong tea crashed into his left arm, while the small cup of espresso and tuna sandwich mercifully missed him and fell to the ground.

The Oolong tea was still extremely hot, and Reborn hissed, already feeling the pain spreading on his drenched arm. His eyes flashed angrily at the person he had smacked into; a tiny brunet who, strangely enough, looked like he was in pain too (but Reborn was too preoccupied to care).

"I-I'm so sorry!" The brunet squeaked.

Reborn had been taking a deep breath to calm himself from snapping at the brunet (this was, after all, simply an accident), but his breath caught in his throat when his soulmate's voice came in his head.

' _What the hell?! Couldn't you have the same courtesy to warn me before taking a flamethrower to your arm?!'_

It could have been a coincidence, but Reborn's every instincts told him otherwise, and he spoke numbly, "What did you just say?"

"I said," the brunet huffed, his eyes still wide with panic, but tone low with snark. "Couldn't you have the same courtesy to warn me…" The brunet's eyes widened with every single words that left his lips, whilst his voice got softer as realisation slowly dawned on him. "I… guess that's… not a flamethrower then… Umm… oops."

"…I should have known," Reborn sighed. "That we were going to meet because of your clumsiness."

"H-Hey!" His soulmate spluttered, but before he could retort, the cashier ran up to them. "L-Look, just come with me to the back." He said, tugging on Reborn's uninjured arm towards the side door that said _**[Employees Only]**_. At Reborn's questioning (and slightly flabbergasted) look, his soulmate explained, "I said I worked customer service part-time, right? Well, I'm a part-time barista at Deathbucks on campus."

In that moment, Reborn thinks he might be in love.

* * *

"Sit there," His soulmate gestured at the bench in the locker room. "And strip."

Reborn shot him a wolfish grin (to which his soulmate blushed and turned around just a tad quickly to look for the first-aid kit) and slowly peeled off his black vest and dress shirt, carefully folding it and dropping it beside him on the bench. His soulmate came back then, a first-aid kit in hand, stopping abruptly to stare at Reborn with a growing blush.

"I must say I'm used to being inspected by the ladies," Reborn drawled. "But this is the first time I've felt this way with a man."

His soulmate's blush deepened, but even with a flaming red face, he managed to bit out, "I'll wipe that smile off your pretty face." As Reborn's eyebrows quirked in half-surprise and half-amusement, his soulmate continued, "I can't believe you used a game line on me."

"You know?" Reborn questioned.

"Of course I know." The brunet replied, rolling his eyes as he gently patted down the redden skin on Reborn's arm with a damp towel. "My brother is in law school. His best friend bought that for him as a joke. He was simultaneously offended and amused, but he still completed the game in one week."

"Let me guess, your brother is Giotto, isn't it." Reborn stated. "That makes you Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"And you're Reborn." His soulmate, Tsuna, replied, putting aside the towel and applying the burn ointment. "Don't give me that look. I work in _Deathbucks_. You have no idea how many times I've heard girls—and guys, come to think of it—gushing over _'that hot Italian student'_ and how they could _'drown in those deep black eyes'_."

"And what about you?" Reborn asked, smirking smugly. "Ever gushed about me and my _'deep black eyes'_?"

"I'm sorry," Tsuna said in all seriousness. "But I'm afraid _'deep black eyes'_ are nothing compared to heterochromatic eyes. They're rather pretty; ruby in one eye and sapphire in another." At his soulmate's scowl, Tsuna laughed. "Are you jealous, o' soulmate of mine?"

"Hmph. I have no need to be pretty. I just need to be dropdead gorgeous." Reborn retorted, reaching out and pulling Tsuna into his lap. Since Tsuna's reflexes were obviously not fast enough, Reborn had to use his free hand to stop their faces from crashing rather painfully into each other. Instead, their noses were now touching as they stared at each other, Reborn with a smirk and Tsuna with a massive blush. "Still not drowning?"

It took longer that he should have for Tsuna to realise what Reborn was talking about. The fact that he had most definitely been mesmerized by the pair of depthless onyx really didn't help. He was, however, not about to give in. "N-Nope." Tsuna stammered.

"How very not adorable." Reborn sighed.

* * *

 _Bonus._

* * *

After the _twenty-seventh_ time in under an hour Reborn had felt a variety of pain in his arms and hands, he gave up on the assignment he had been working on and instead called out in his mind, _'So. Any particular reason why I've been feeling like a bruised porcupine for the past one hour?'_ Unsurprisingly, a short burst of panic came right back.

' _Umm. Nope. No reason.'_

' _Huh.'_ Reborn snorted. _'Then, I guess there was also no reason why my phone has been going off all day from texts filled with angry emojis and disapproving memes from your dear brother, huh.'_

' _Giotto did what―'_

' _His best friend―I don't even want to know how he has my number―has been texting me laughing gifs the entire day as well.'_ Reborn continued as he scrolled through the texts on his phone. _'By the way, I have a preference for white sauce, and I want affogato for dessert.'_

' _How the hell―'_

' _Tsuna. You have been systematically cursing about the varieties of pasta and their sauces, and you've been accidentally cutting yourself or knocking into what I'm guessing are the kitchen counters. It's not that hard to guess.'_ Reborn answered patiently.

' _I was going to surprise you.'_ (Reborn could practically hear the _pout_ in his mind.)

' _I know.'_ Reborn replied. _'Instead of you possibly hurting yourself further, let's cook dinner together, alright?'_

' _That sounds… domestic.'_

' _We've been living together for three months.'_ Reborn deadpanned. _'Not to mention sleeping together for―'_

'― _Okay I get the point!'_ Tsuna interrupted. _'Just… come back quickly, okay. The pasta's already boiling, so if it over-cooks, it's your fault. And if you want affogato, go pick up a tub of ice cream. Skull and Lambo polished it off last time. And get whatever spice you want, or I'm gonna make Japanese-style pasta.'_

' _Yes, dear.'_

* * *

A/N: First of all, I have no idea how the title is related to the fic, or if it even makes sense to begin with. Second of all, I have an ongoing problem of _not being able to end fics_. OTL

It's that time of the year again! It's been three years since me and Lightning515, my dear beta and KHR buddy, met! We achieved a lot of fun things this year, like gaming together online and even initiating voice chat (which was during said game, and we nearly died by the end of it). Fun times. Here's to more fun times (aka, more killing each other with bishies and feels) in the years to come~!

On that note... I hoped this turned out well. Thanks for reading as always, and that's all for this time! Ciao ciao~


End file.
